A Case Study of the Center for Distance Education at Carl Von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany Ulrich J
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Document generated on 09/29/2021 4:26 a.m. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Challenges for Study Centers in an Electronic Age: A case study of the Center for Distance Education at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany Ulrich J. Bernath, Axel C. Kleinschmidt, Christine J. Walti and Olaf Zawacki Volume 4, Number 1, April 2003 Article abstract This paper reports on developments in study centers in Germany and in URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1072829ar particular the experience of the Center for Distance Education at Carl von DOI: https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v4i1.133 Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. Emphasis in this paper has been placed on the challenges faced by German universities in the electronic age, which in its See table of contents early stages began in 1995. The purpose of this paper is to ground the establishment of open and distance study centres vis-à-vis the unique cultural and institutional circumstances characteristic of Germany and its institutions Publisher(s) of higher education. Athabasca University Press (AU Press) ISSN 1492-3831 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Bernath, U., Kleinschmidt, A., Walti, C. & Zawacki, O. (2003). Challenges for Study Centers in an Electronic Age: A case study of the Center for Distance Education at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 4(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v4i1.133 Copyright (c), 2003 Ulrich J. Bernath, Axel C. Kleinschmidt, Christine J. Walti, This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit Olaf Zawacki (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning Volume 4, Number 1. ISSN: 1492-3831 April – 2003 Challenges for Study Centers in an Electronic Age: A case study of the Center for Distance Education at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany Ulrich Bernath, Axel Kleinschmidt, Christine Walti, Olaf Zawacki Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg Germany Abstract This paper reports on developments in study centers in Germany and in particular the experience of the Center for Distance Education at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. Emphasis in this paper has been placed on the challenges faced by German universities in the electronic age, which in its early stages began in 1995. The purpose of this paper is to ground the establishment of open and distance study centres vis-à-vis the unique cultural and institutional circumstances characteristic of Germany and its institutions of higher education. Development of Distance Education in Germany This paper reports on developments in study centers in Germany and in particular the experience of the Center for Distance Education at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, with emphasis on the challenges faced in the electronic age – which in its early stages began for us in 1995. Our practice necessarily refers to specific cultural and institutional circumstances characteristic of Germany and its institutions of higher education ( Kappel, Lehmann, and Loeper, 2002). Distance education at the university level in Germany has, for many years, been the province of the FernUniversität in Hagen, a specialized distance teaching university founded in 1975. The FernUniversität became a large scale provider of courses in economics and business administration, social sciences, humanities, law, computer science, and electrical engineering taught at a distance. Today, the FernUniversität offers a total of about 1,500 courses to more than 59,000 students. Each course varies from 20 to 180 learning hours, which are completed within a semester measuring 15 weeks long. The majority of students – around 85 percent in the year 2001 – were degree-seeking (FernUniversität, 2001). The system is open to students who enroll in individual courses for continuing education; although they cannot earn a degree, they study under the same conditions as degree-seeking students. 2 Bernath, Kleinschmidt, Walti, Zawacki & Von Ossietzky Challenges for Study Centers in an Electronic Age The FernUniversität does not follow the Open University UK (OU UK) model of decentralized student support, with study centers scattered nationwide, and tutors as core staff members for all enrolled students (Groten, 1992; Tait, 2002). Instead, as a state run university of North-Rhine Westfalia, the FernUniversität may only operate within the borders of North-Rhine Westfalia. To provide equal opportunities for the more than 60 percent of their students living in other German states, regional student support services are provided in fifteen other German states. In 1978, the respective ministry in the state of Lower Saxony institutionalized its own statewide support system for its students attending the FernUniversität, establishing central academic units for distance education within three conventional universities in the cities of Hildesheim, Lüneburg, and Oldenburg. These partner institutions became responsible for providing support to the students of the FernUniversität as a regional study center, and for developing and delivering their own distance teaching programs in cooperation with the faculty of the respective home universities. Thus, with establishment of its Center for Distance Education, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg found itself responsible not only for serving its own university faculty and students in the area of distance education, but also students of other distance teaching universities (mainly those of the FernUniversität). This multifunctional structure of central university units for distance education in Lower Saxony represents a “special case” (Wissenschaftsrat, 1992, p. 36) in German higher distance education. This concept was unusual even by international standards, representing a new challenge for conventional universities within their centers for distance education (i.e., Mills’ taxonomy of study centers, 1996). In order to provide stronger regional distance education delivery centers, in 1992 the Wissenschaftsrat (German Science Council, http://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/) proposed the establishment of centers for distance education in various universities. In addition, the German Science Council recommended establishment of cooperative models between central distance teaching institutions and local/ regional universities. Endorsing the visionary policies adopted in the 1970s by the German states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, and Hesse, in 1993 the same council promoted formation of a national network of distance learning centers at both university sites and elsewhere (Wissenschaftsrat, 1992; 1993). In 1995, eleven representatives from centers for distance education as well as from centers for distance and continuing education at the universities in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hildesheim, Kaiserslautern, Karlsruhe, Koblenz- Landau, Lüneburg, Oldenburg, and Saarbrücken, founded the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für das Fernstudium an Hochschulen (AG-F), or in English, the German university association for distance education and open learning. To date the AG-F has attracted more than 50 member institutions that collectively offer a wide range of open and distance learning programs for more than 10,000 undergraduate students, as well as an array of non-degree programs for continuing education and professional development (http://www.ag-fernstudium.de). This multifunctional orientation to distance education and open learning, declared almost 25 years ago as the mission of the three Lower Saxony centers for distance education, appears to have resulted in central units for distance education at conventional universities that meet all of the fundamental functions of study centers mentioned by Mills (1996). Services for advising and supporting students in general, and providing tutorials for students of the FernUniversität in particular, have gained a reputation for high quality as evidenced in projects, experiments, and evaluations. With respect to the Oldenburg Center for Distance Education, development of its own and joint programs, mainly in continuing education and professional development, has been remarkably successful and sustainable (Bernath, 1993; 1994a; 1994b; 1996; 2001; Bernath and 3 Bernath, Kleinschmidt, Walti, Zawacki & Von Ossietzky Challenges for Study Centers in an Electronic Age Rubin, 2001). Continuing education programs for professionals in healthcare delivery (http://www.gesundheitspartnerschaft.de/), teacher training programs in economic education (Feeken, Kleinschmidt and Zawacki, 2002), and the Master of Distance Education program, a joint venture with the University of Maryland University College (Bernath and Rubin, 2002) are just some examples of developmental accomplishment. Organizational Aspects of the Center for Distance Education in Oldenburg Within the framework of agreements on cooperation between the two universities, the Center for Distance Education at the University of Oldenburg is autonomously responsible for providing student support services for students of the FernUniversität.